Verified AI summary ◀▼
The data masking feature, part of the Advanced Data Privacy and Protection add-on, helps you protect personally identifiable information (PII) by hiding it from agents in custom roles. It limits data exposure, supporting compliance with regulations like GDPR. While masking obscures PII, it doesn't alter the database. Note that some agent actions may be restricted, and public end-user data remains visible.
The data masking feature, part of the Advanced Data Privacy and Protection add-on, allows you to hide personally identifiable information (PII) from agents in custom roles.
Data masking helps reduce unnecessary exposure to sensitive information by limiting the data that agents can view. For example, a company collaborating with high-profile clients may restrict access so that agents only see user data when it's required for their role. This practice also supports compliance with regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which emphasizes data minimization and controlled access.
Related article:
Understanding data masking
Data masking allows admins to create and assign agents to custom roles to determine which data is masked from agents.
When a role is configured with data masking, agents see only the PII required for their responsibilities, reducing the risk of unauthorized access. Masking is applied at the presentation layer only, so PII in the database remains unchanged. Agents in roles without masking continue to see all PII. When a role with masking settings is saved, Zendesk automatically updates permissions to hide restricted PII. Agents assigned to the masked role will see a lock icon next to any PII fields they are not permitted to view.
- Name
- Phone
- End user profile
- End user fields in the context of a ticket (requester, CCs, followers)
- Email notifications
- Ticket views
- Support search
- Triggers and automations (business rules)
- Side conversations
- User segments
- User content
- Spam
- Community moderation views
Note that end-user data that has been made public will be visible to agents, even with data masking in place. For example, if moderation is turned on and an end user posts a public comment, their name won't be masked because it can be seen in the help center.
Data masking limitations
Data masking may restrict certain agent actions that require access to PII. Features such as managing end-user profiles will be unavailable to agents in roles with masking, and some tasks, such as managing suspended tickets, may be limited. Core workflows for solving tickets remain unaffected.
General limitations
- Any functionality outside the scope described in Understanding data masking, including Sell, QA, WFM, Talk, and Explore, is not supported with masking.
- Zendesk recommends testing data masking in a sandbox environment.
Support limitations
- Managing end-user profiles, merging tickets, masking of PII in ticket comments, and masking for light agents are not yet supported.
- Managing organizations, managing suspended tickets, placeholders, legacy CCs, print ticket, and View original email functionality is unavailable for masked agents.
- AI-generated ticket summaries may expose PII if turned on.
Understanding the differences between data redaction and data masking
Data redaction and data masking are both techniques used to protect sensitive information, but they serve different purposes.
Data redaction allows admins or agents in custom roles with permission to permanently remove sensitive information from tickets, ensuring that deleted data can't be retrieved or viewed by any agents. Agents can redact ticket content manually, or with the Advanced Data Privacy and Protection add-on, admins can create triggers to automatically redact ticket data.
Data masking offers an alternative approach to protecting sensitive information. It allows certain roles to have end-user names, email addresses, and phone numbers obscured based on custom role settings. This means that while the original data remains intact, it's hidden from view for agents without permission. This capability allows customers to maintain data integrity while safeguarding user privacy.
While data redaction permanently removes sensitive information, data masking provides a way to obscure it based on user permissions.